‘It’s been a journey to get to this point’: Women’s ice hockey is reaching new heights in 2024
A new era for women in the game begins as professional hockey league becomes a reality
On Sept. 24, 2023, Kori Cheverie made history as the first woman to sit behind an NHL bench as a guest coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins during a preseason hockey game. This marks a major milestone in the collective journey for women pursuing dreams of professional hockey — a journey that’s been fraught with setbacks and frustrations.
This breakthrough came just weeks after the official establishment of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). As the first unified, financially stable women’s league in North America, the launch of the PWHL in August 2023 represents the enduring dedication of countless players, leaders and industry professionals committed to the support and elevation of women’s ice hockey.
Funded by the Mark Walter Group, the PWHL consists of six franchises, located in Boston, Minnesota, New York, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. Cheverie is the coach of the Montreal team. According to the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the average salary is USD$55,000, and players are guaranteed medical, dental and vision insurance.
“It’s been a journey to get to this point,” says Jayna Hefford, senior vice-president of hockey operations for the PWHL. “We decided that if we wanted to see the change that we all had a vision for, we had to do the work ourselves.”
The inaugural season began on Jan. 1, when more than 2,500 people gathered at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre to watch New York battle Boston. In total, more than 2.9 million viewers tuned in for the firstever game.
“The response has been incredible,” says Hefford. “I think we have outpaced our projections in every aspect. Our group of players here in the PWHL have proven that change can be made. Progress can be made.”
Building on her impressive legacy as a player and a leader in the industry, Hefford played a critical role in the establishment of the PWHL. In addition to being a four-time gold medalist in Salt Lake City, Turin, Vancouver and Sochi, she was the sixth female in history to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2019, she was named an Order of Hockey in Canada recipient and inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
She also served as commissioner for the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) for the 2018/19 season. The league was dissolved in 2019 due to insufficient revenue and backlash from many of the players, who announced their intent to boycott any professional North American league for the upcoming season due to the lack of livable salaries and insurance.
This led to the creation of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), where Hefford served as the lead operations consultant from its formation in 2019 to 2023.
The PWHPA advocated for the promotion of professional women’s ice hockey through its unique Dream Gap tours — a series of hockey events scheduled across North America, named in reference to the aspiration many young boys have to one day play in the NHL, and the lack of an equivalent dream available for young girls.
The goal of the Dream Gap tours was to generate support for the creation of a unified women’s league capable of providing players with a liveable wage and benefits so they might have the opportunity to pursue hockey as a full-time career, just as men do in the NHL.
“The formation of the PWHPA was incredibly significant and where we are today wouldn’t have happened without that,” says Hefford. “Financial stability was always a challenge, as was visibility … I would say that both of those points have been solved with the PWHL.”
For the players and professionals in the PWHL, this year marks a critical step forward in the journey to promote women’s hockey that spans generations, ushering in a new era for women in the game.
“The many generations of female players that came before me were never welcomed in the hockey space,” says Hefford. “And then there was my generation of players, who had the opportunity to play in the World Championships, but we never had a professional league. And now, we’ve got the current generation of athletes who have stood up for all of this, and really made this happen.
“And then there’s the next generation — every young girl who wants to put on a pair of skates can see a future for herself if she chooses this path.”